Control of angiogenesis

This project commenced in 2014 and ended in 2017.

In this research, poly (ɛ-lysine) dendrons of different branching generations (Gx) have been used as protein scaffold to present, at their uppermost branching generation, the Angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1), the VEGF or the PDGF-BB peptide analogue. The resulting dendritic angiogenic peptides have been designed specifically to target myocardial ischemic tissue starting from a root [di-phenilalanine (FF) ] capable of interacting with the  tissue ECM and ending with specific angiogenic bioactive aminoacid sequences that potentially induce a precise biological response on targeting cells.

The angiogenic potential of dendritic angiogenic peptides has been evaluate in a 2D in vitro model where the molecules have been spiked on HUVECs resulting in an endothelial sprouting behaviour provoked by dendritic angiogenic peptides used as “ free drugs”. Successively, dendritic angiogenic peptides have been used as grafting molecules onto collagen type I fashioned as injectable biomaterials (beads) or patches (scaffold) in order to test the potential of the novel synthesised molecules in inducing angiogenesis in vitro when embedded in a biomaterial. From the obtained results, it becomes obvious how dendritic angiogenic peptides have a role in inducing angiogenesis when they are presented to cells and tissue in a specific manner. Indeed, the present study for the first time unveils a novel biomaterial approach to stimulate angiogenesis through nano-structured biomaterials and emphasise the need for a finely spaced presentation of the relevant peptide sequence to obtain established endothelial sprouting.